4 Website Design Mistakes You Need to Avoid in 2018

If there’s a piece of advice that we can give you when creating a website, it’s to never take good web design for granted.

As we’ve mentioned before, a site visitor’s first impression on your website can make or break you in just a few seconds, 10 tops.

In other words, if they don’t like what they see within that timeframe, chances are high that they’re going to close their browser windows and never visit your website again.

None of us want that, of course.

Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to prevent this from happening, and you don’t need to be a professional web designer in order to do so.

Because while it’s true that not everyone has an eye for design, preventing bad design becomes easier once you know what to avoid.

That said, make sure you keep these 4 common web design mistakes in mind so you have one less thing to worry about.

1. Using more than 3 fonts on your website

The rule of thumb when designing websites? Try not to have too much visual elements going on within your space. Having more than 3 fonts on your site design is a surefire way to break this one rule and overwhelm your site visitors.

Keeping your website fonts to a minimum of 3 is a general design practice observed by professionals. Plus, it increases your site’s level of readability and consistency, which are key to your site traffic’s success.

DON’T DO THIS.

Don’t use 3 or more fonts, and try to avoid “fancy fonts” as much as possible, as they tend to look too unprofessional and outdated,especially if executed in the wrong way.

DO THIS.

Use only 2 fonts, or a maximum of 3 if you have to. Notice how the page below looks clean and sleek, all while keeping readability and consistency all throughout the design.

Try comparing the differences between this example and the previous one. The example below with only two fonts is a website that your visitors will likely take seriously. This previous one with the overwhelming amount of fonts isn’t.

2. Not knowing what white space is and how to utilize it

Put simply, white space is literally thespace between elements in a composition.

In other words, it’s negative space, or anything on your website that isn’t filled with text, photos, or other design elements.

Now, the problem arises when website owners want to fillall of the white space in, which is an absolute no-no.

White space matters because it gives your site visitors and readers some breathing space when going through your site. Just how it was mentioned in the first design mistake to avoid, overwhelming your website with too much design elements is more than a good enough reason for your site visitors to leave, and for your traffic to decrease significantly. It also makes for poorly executed design.

DON’T DO THIS.

Another thing to note regarding white space and large walls of text is the issue of spacing. In the example below, take a look at how the text is nearing the edges of the purple section’s margin. Notice as well how all elements leave almost zero room for white space. This is another no-no.

DO THIS.

If adding in long paragraphs is unavoidable, just remember to always take the rules of spacing into account (they’re pretty easy to remember anyway 😊). Give your site readers some room to breathe. It will leave your page looking cool, crisp, and professional.

3. No Flow to Site’s Contents and Sections

The flow of your website’s contents are important. Moreover, the flow of it all needs to make sense.

Check out these two examples below to see what we mean.

DON’T DO THIS.

Unless you’re a graphic designer by profession, it’s probably not a good idea to experiment with the standard flow of your website’s sections.

Below, you can see that the site’s design lacks both visual and logical flow; everything is all over the place. You don’t want your audience will have a hard time navigating through your site, either, and this is another surefire way to do it.

DO THIS.

Notice how the sections of the website flow depending on what actions the visitor is most likely to take.

It makes sense: First, the website introduces itself, and fills the audience in on the basics, like what it’s about and what it does. Second, it adds credentials. Lastly, the website gives the audience its contact numbers and list of events in case anyone wants to participate.

4. Trying to Fit in Every Bit of Information Onto Your Website

Don’t fill up your site with huge blocks of text, or try to fit every bit of information that you can within your site. Studies find that readers only visit 20% of your webpage; everyone else outside that percentage will probably just scroll through your site, and adding in walls of text where white space should can drive them away.

DON’T DO THIS.

Don’t overwhelm your visitors with inconsistent, giant walls of text, especially if it means having to sacrifice your website design’s cohesiveness and structure.

DO THIS.

Keep your copy short and concise, and take out chunks of unecessary text if you can help it. Only keep vital information that your site visitorsabsolutely need to know.

Conclusion

Website design is important, and can be a huge deciding factor in whether or not you gain site traffic.

Design in less time!

Remember not take it for granted. Always alot time to research, and look up articles such as this one to guide you along the way. Before you know it, you’ll be seeing your site traffic moving upwards. 🙂

This week’s useful resource:

CANVA has hundreds of resources that you can access on their website. Apart from useful and easy-to-follow design tips, they also have photo editing tools, graphs, and a wide range of useful resources you can use for your creative projects.